408. OCF Singapore (Olivia Cassivelaun Fancourt)

Named after Sir Stamford Raffles’ first wife, OCF occupied the 2nd story of The Arts House. And since being the only restaurant, you can’t miss the place. You just have to push past the door and step inside.

Like many reviews I read, this place has a certain air of elegance . High ceilings, open kitchen concept and polished table settings, it prides itself to be a fine-dining French restaurant. The restaurant wasn’t exactly crowded that night. The young service staffs were attentive though the kitchen was considerably slow. OCF changes its 5-course dinner menu daily as the chef prefers to work with spontaneous and seasonal produce to bring out the best he could.

Warm Complimentary Bread, refilled frequently

Course 1: Tomato Salad

It was supposed to be mozzarella cheese with tomato. I requested they changed it for me since I’m not a fan of cheese. One thing I’m puzzled was they didn’t just have a backup menu written on their paper. They have to go back to the kitchen and asked what could be prepared and come back to us again. How strange.

Tomatoes were good. Sweet and full of flavours

Course 2: Onions

I didn’t particularly favour this dish since I’m not a fan of onions. But I thought it would be very rude if I ask to change the dish again so I decided to just stick with it. And well, I had 2 bites.. and thats about it

Course 2: Steam Hokkaido Scallop

The alternative. Somehow I don’t know if I should be glad that I didn’t change my onion course. Though I love scallops but this dish had a very strong pea taste, which overpowered the sweetness of the scallop. It felt like the scallop was drowned by a sea of greens

Course 3: Sea Bass

The fish was cooked beautifully. But the the medley of vegetables and the broth together was oh-my-goodness overwhelming salty. I do love my food a little saltier at times, but this was too much

Course 4: Grilled Pigeon

I was skeptical of the dish

And I continued to be after taking the first bite. It felt a little too uncooked with all the redness in the middle, and everywhere else. I love my beef medium rare, but pigeon, this is a first and I think it will be my last too. I felt like a vampire feasting, honestly.

Honestly, this place was a little disappointing. The setting and ambience, I expected a little more. And French, being one of my favourite cuisine, this place just failed to meet the mark. But I’m glad it was my birthday treat, my very last one in fact so yay.